Pathfinder: The New Age of Haven

Power fields are keeping the horde out. Everyone who tries to breach is evaporated. Some have left and marched somewhere else, the rest are milling around with no direction.

Baylen is sorting out shit to do with the civil war. He picked up a map of the city. He probably paid a peasant for it. Baylen has reached the city. Horlamin is hanging around. He is aware that there is a civil war brewing but it hasn’t escalated yet. It’s getting there. He doesn’t know that the separatists declare opposition to the monarchy. The royalists want to put the nephew of the late king on the throne (who is 9). The separatists want to vote.

The guards stop Baylen.

Baylen: “I’m here on business from King Horhand Iskillien. Take me to your leader.”

The guards hesitate for a moment but let you in under armed escort. They lead you to a waiting room. His escort informs the bailiff who allows him to see the King immediately. Baylen is led into a grand hall.

The child king looks uncomfortable in the throne. He doesn’t pay much attention to Baylen as he approaches. Baylen kneels at the throne.

“Your majesty and his- Ah, advisor… I bring grave news.”

The king straightens up and says, “What’s your name?” He is sweet and childlike so far. Definitely not what you would expect from a King.

The King mentions a dog called Baylen who he didn’t like. Baylen knows this is going to be difficult.

Baylen frowns a moment, and pauses for dramatic emphasis. “A horde of a couple of thousand orcs are marching on your city.”

A man who looks like a knight from one of the Houses scoffs. “How do we know this is true? Who are you? Is this some ploy from the separatists?”

Horlamin, the racist pig, shifts uncomfortably, trying to control his tourettes. He fights with this evil demon within, claming his lips shut as he twitches and grasps at the wall, tics overcoming him. He whispers quietly to himself. “How many Dornari does it take to read a book?” After a few moments of no response, he gasps “Just kidding, Dornari can’t read!” Luckily, everyone is only paying attention to Baylen and no one hears his joke.

“If you’re that suspicious, send a scouting party to the East, to the crossroads Keep. Or better yet, look out your window and see the black smoke in the East.”

There is a murmur through the hall. One of the guards pipes up, saying he has seen the smoke himself.

The knight is still suspicious.

The King looks worried. “The orcs are coming? We have to kill them!”

“The wall has fallen.” Baylen states, about as bluntly as possible without a mace. “It needs warriors to reinforce its defenses.”

The King cuts him off and starts tugging on the advisors arm. “We need to send the boats!”

“My lord, we can’t send boats over land. And if we send the armies out of the city, the separatists will take your throne.”

“Oh.” The boy King whispers, troubled.

To Baylen, the advisor says, “We simply cannot send armies elsewhere while we have the problem of the separists.”

“So if they agreed to a temporary truce, you would be able to send troops to reinforce the wall? Ah- In case you’ve never faced an orc in battle, I should perhaps inform you that death is rather more permanent than democracy.”

The advisor says sternly. “There will be no truce. You were sent by King Horhand? Is he sending support? Where is he?”

“Last I’d heard, he was heading north to offer some sort of assistance, yes. Whether he’s bringing an army, I don’t know.”

“Will they? Will they really? The orcs that attacked Crossroads Keep had cannons – Again, I invite you to send a scout to verify, if you’ve any doubt.”

The King insists that this is terrible. “We need to stop them!”

The advisor tries to argue about separists, but the King snaps back that they are just people. The orcs are a more serious threat.

“Your majesty has the right of it. The orcs are a more pressing threat at the moment – Even your separatists will see that, surely.” Says Baylen.

“I agree.” Says the King.

“We cannot trust the separatists.” The advisor insists.

“No, Baylen, please speak to the separatists and arrange this truce.”

The rest of us are kind of cleaning up the rivers of blood. Avin wants to know how long the defenses will last. He has concluded that the power sources will last for a month. Unless the energy consumption speeds up for some reason. As it is, it will last.

Ianthe helps people and tries to get some gossip out of people.

Baylen goes to chill with separatists. They all seem to be wearing the same emblem which is different from that of the royalists. Baylen looks for the man with the most ornate uniform. There is one just leaving the tower who looks to be the best dressed. He is followed by a bunch of people and seems important.

Baylen Cartwright walks right in as if he owns the place, and looks to the man who exited the tower. “Are you in charge here?”

The man nods. “I am. Who are you?”

“Baylen Cartwright. I assume by how calm you all are, you’re not aware of the impending Orcish army?”

The man takes notice. “Orcish army? Speak.”

“I came up from the South, sent by King Iskillien to check up on the wall. Crossroads Keep has been attacked, nearly sacked, and more approach from the Wall itself.” Baylen states rather bluntly, assuming that the man in charge of a military-bent meritocracy would be no-nonsense.

The man hands his parchment over to a follower. “How many?”

“Too many to count. A couple of thousand, if we’re lucky. If not, many more.”

“This came at the worst time.” He says, referencing the impending civil war.

“Maybe, maybe not. However the, ah, King has agreed to a temporary truce, until the orc threat has been dealt with.”

The man doubts this. “How do I know he won’t shut us out as soon as we leave to fight for Dornari?”

“They expected the same thing from you, actually.” Baylen shrugs. “Orcs are bad business for everyone. You can’t collect taxes from a burnt city, after all.”

“And then with your forces weakened, you would plan to hold off the orc army? We have a day or two at most before the Orcs arrive; if you haven’t won by then, you’ll be fighting on two fronts.”

The man argues back against every point that Baylen raises. He insists that the walls will hold.

“How strong are your walls, then, if they’ll hold off orcs with explosives?” He sighs, he mutters something about ‘sense’ and ‘nine-year-old king’, as he looks towards the ocean.

The man orders people to escort Baylen away. Baylen Cartwright shakes his head at that, as he’s escorted away, but holds his tongue for once!

Avin gets the impression that the King and Queen have been kidnapped. He can hear a drow. Avin tells Baylen that the King has been kidnapped and he can hear the seagulls so he must be near the docks.#

He heads to the docks and takes a look about for anything suspicious! Any sign of a scuffle, cast off royal trinkets, and that sort of thing. He comes across a back alley and sees something happening. The Queen is knocked out and the King is arguing with a drow. She has a dark hood pulled over her head. She slaps him down.

There is a flash in the room and a hooded figure appears. He hears that a plan is in motion, crossroads smashed within the day, dispose and plant the King, ensure the war starts.

Baylen uses his gunsmith kit to dismantle the bars on the window. He attempts to sneak in and get the King’s attention without alerting anyone else. As he sneaks in, he steps on gravel that makes a crunching noise. The conversations stops abruptly so Baylen hides between barrels.

He manages to sneak up to the King unnoticed. Baylen Cartwright rouses the King, attempting to keep him quiet. He holds a finger to his lips in the universal gesture of “shut up you fucker.” and points to the window. The King gets out without making noise. Next, Baylen tries to (ar)rouse the Queen. She wakes up and starts speaking. Baylen points to the window and she gets up. She understands what Baylen intends. She leaves the room, climbing out the window quietly.

The conversation dies down and the last thing Baylen hears from them is “Deal with it.” There is a large flash. There are footsteps coming to the door. Baylen Cartwright rushes for the window and dives through it.

The cloak snags on a bar and Baylen dangles from the cloak. The person comes in and says, “What the-” and grabs him.

Meanwhile, Avin is playing with the flying machine that isn’t destroyed. He puts a crystal in the machine and it powers up. It seems ready to rock and roll. He decides to fix the landing thing.

The drow leans over to grab the escaping King but is met by the gun. She is shot twice and screams for someone to kill them. Baylen escapes out of the window.

They begin a comically obstacle fraught chase through the city.

Baylen brings him to the child King, barking orders. He demands that they stop their childish fighting and deal with the real threat.

“But the separatists!”

“THESEPARATISTSAREYOURPEOPLETOO.” King Horhand yells. Horlamin encourages the younger King to earn his throne. Baylen nods in agreement.

The young King is excited by this. He demands that the armies are called to arms and put under the control of Baylen.

“I’d be honoured to lead your forces.” Baylen says.

He plays it cool. “Muster the armies. I’ll need a roster of what we have available. Siege, cavalry, shock. And…” He grins at his clever scheme! “I’m going to go talk to the Separatists.”

Of orcs and walls

The group stood around the flying machine, one part fell off when Avin poked it with his stave.

The group that had decided to go with Avin to the wall were silently regretting their decision.

Their paladin friend was now slightly panicky and talking faster than normal.

‘I was looking over a manual and found some instructions….’

The rest of the group were too busy looking at the death-trap to listen, hearing only small snippets

‘Pulling this device will disconnect the autopilot entirely’
‘Left raises the left wing or lowers it’
‘Right raises the right wing or lowers it’
’Don’t land in the sea of storms’

Baylen and Horlamin were saddling up the horses by this point, Maraynn was currently snoring on the cart that had been brought inside the fort, she murmured about the soft kitty tail as baylen unstrapped the horse from the cart.

Avin and his volunteers were now bound ‘safely’ in via the worn leather straps after a lengthy discussion about Ianthe or Charlotte choosing the middle or back seat, judging by the looks of them if there was a bit of a crash they would have been thrown from the contraption almost instantly.

Avin mentioned that it’d probably be helpful to look through the manual one more time before heading off.

After looking at the manual he looked at the paladin and said ‘smoke me a kipper, I’ll be back for breakfast’ as the men in the room started to turn the cranks. The contraption started to rise through a hole in the tower, climbing higher through the darkness till a slit of light appeared in the darkness. The slit grew larger and Avin realised that they were doors opening wide.

Eventually the machine stopped and then started tilting backwards a little.
Suddenly a rumbling noise started from behind them, after a few seconds they were launched almost directly vertical, slightly aimed at the general direction of the walls.

Baylen and Horlamin were making good time, fairly far from the tower by the point they heard it.
Looking up they saw a trail of fire streaming through the sky.
“I’m not regretting this decision” Baylen quipped as he watched the death-trap throw Avin and his vic-volunteers.

Ianthe was regretting her decision to follow the almost certainly mad wizard.
Charlotte was thinking about Ale and how much she could drink when they were finished with killing all the orcs.
Avin was talking with Ser about how amazing the device was.
Ser was too busy hiding in Avin’s pocket to ‘Enjoy’ the moment, whilst fine with flying, Ser was not all too fine with being launched at hundreds of feet per second via flying deathtrap.

As the plane levelled out Charlotte looked over to see trails of an orc army advancing towards the crossroads.
Avin was too busy trying to make sure they were on course and not about to fly into a mountain or the ground, so far all looked good.

After a while of gliding they could finally see the wall. It was awe inspiring
Either side of them was a storm, lightning and hurricanes bombarded an ocean. They all noted that they were specifically bombarding the ocean, not the areas around the ocean. ‘Sea of Storms, I can see why landing there would be a bad idea’ Avin said to nobody in particular.
The Wall itself was green ‘I guess the book was right’ thought Avin’. It stretched for miles in either direction and was wider than anyone would have thought.
Avin guessed that it was around 2000 feet wide, possibly more.

As they were admiring the area they caught sight of orc camps around the base of the wall.
The group quickly agreed that landing there wasn’t an option and hoped that they would make it to the wall without any problems. It was, of course, at this exact moment that the plane suddenly tilted downwards so that they were now flying towards the central tower at a high pace.

Avin asked the group what they thought the correct course of action would be in case they could see clearer than he could about their trajectory, this was met by silence in the form of fear from Ianthe and indifference from Charlotte, who was far more interested in being down where the orcs were in any case.

When they landed, Charlotte led the way through the orcs, swinging her axe against the first wave, and cleaving several in twain. Unperturbed by the sudden attack from a lone barbarian, the orcs charged in force, only to be met by the sharp, flaming edge of her axe. Ianthe and Avin stood back, the door behind them locked with magic, to watch Charlotte as she cleared a path through the ugly army of rage and teeth. Blood began to run down the sides of the walls, and the orcs and Charlotte were practically wading through blood, guts and corpse. It was as if she was in a trance or possessed. It almost frightened her allies, who would have been worried had they not just witnessed Charlotte single handedly decimating the army that stood between them and their destination. But Charlotte was beginning to tire. Her breath came sharp and ragged, and her swings were slower. One orc managed to graze her with his weapon, distracting her long enough for another to plunge his weapon into her back. Charlotte roared in pain and anger, falling to her knees but still holding off the much diminished hoard. Ianthe stepped up, quick to heal the barbarian, knowing that if Charlotte fell, they might not have the man power to see their mission through. It was just enough to bring Charlotte to her feet, and, backed up by Avin’s magic and Ianthe’s healing, she finished off the last few orcs. If any survived, they had fled. The only remains from the battle was the river of blood that flowed from the stone walls, and the bodies that were piled on either side, burned from Avin’s fire. Charlotte panted, the smell of burning orcs filling her nostrils, then turned to face her comrades. Her eyes were wide, her armour was stained red, and she grinned. “Well that was a good warm-up…”

As they stood there Charlotte covered in blood and grinning like a maniac, half because of the thrill of battle, half because she was pleased with her joke, they surveyed their surroundings.

The door was a little damaged, the Orcs clearly wanted in there so Avin assumed that this would be the one area they hadn’t managed to ransack just yet.
He knocked on the door.

“Is anyone in there? We killed the Orcs”

Avin waited as the door was unlocked and a dishevelled, clearly terrified man peeked through the gap, relaxing almost instantly at the sight of Avin and Ianthe, and then tensing up again at the sight of the grinning maniac standing near them.

“Didyoukilltheorcs?”
The man was staring at Charlotte, shrinking back a little as if trying to will himself to merge into the door.

“Oh, she’s with us and did most of this…”
Avin says, noticing his understandable terror, gesturing to Charlotte, then the Orc bits which were almost floating in the blood, pausing as they surveyed the aftermath again before continuing.
“I prefer a more hands off approach”
He gestures at the charred remains and starts to speak again before the dam breaks and the man bursts out in a cascade of words.

“DIDYOUBRINGANARMYWHEREARETHEYAREYOUAWIZARDTHANKGODYOU’REHERETOHELPHOWDIDYOUGETHERE?”
Avin blinks and looks at the man before responding
“No, but one is on its way. Probably around crossroads keep, Yes I am. Magic flying device that was broken and crashed.”

The man looks at Avin as if he’s an idiot and a saviour all at the same time.
“just the three of you?”
“Four” Ser chimes in from Avin’s pocket.

At this point the man goes into a tirade about how terrible everything is, he’s a scribe on the wall, there’s an Orc army on its way, much larger than people probably realised. The defense of the wall wasn’t working and he couldn’t figure out how to use it.
Avin perked up at the sound of ‘device’ and asked if he could see it.
The scribe checked that everyone was wearing the pendants before everyone was led to a shimmering green field and it was explained that if you touched the field without a pendant you would not enjoy the side effects.

We killed a bunch of things and rescued the fair maiden paladin. We went back to the keep to recouperate and have a breather. Avin did things. He buried Paulinus in a nice-ish place. We decide that he probably had inappropriate love for Baylen.

While we hang in the town, chilling, Baylen is making sure the fires aren’t spreading, Ianthe is helping to heal people, Charlotte is drinking herself into a stupor and Avin is sorting through the golem remains.

Baylen Cartwright gathers up some of the more solid chunks of iron from the cannon, and asks Charlotte if she can reforge it to his specifications so that he can craft a second boomstick. She helps but is too drunk to do much at all other than helping him smelt.

Avin makes something cool.

Avin shows the thing to baylen.

Avin Catson: “How’s this look?”

Baylen eyes the mysteriously crafted thing, and slowly nods.

Baylen: “That’ll do.”

Avin Catson mentions to Ianthe and Charlotte that we’ll be needing their aid in a while.

Charlotte eyes Avin suspiciously. “What are you doing?”

Ianthe: “Not quite sure how I’ll be helpful with anything metal… But if you tell me what to do, I’ll try to help.”

Avin: “See, it was burned before and now it’s burned AND mauled. So, after discussing various options we decided on creating him a new one.”

Ianthe: “I am sorry my skills were not good enough to help you more, Baylen.” She bows at Baylen.

Avin holds up an item that looks exactly like a hand, but completely solid metal.

Ianthe: “Hmmm, isn’t that quite heavy?”

Avin: “Right now yes, but once we attach it to baylen’s arm at the wrist and activate it’ll work exactly like a new hand… except with a few slight differences. The problem is that his old, now useless hand is still there.”

Baylen: “I’d rather not bleed out, see.”

A smile spreads slowly across Charlotte’s face.

Charlotte: “Please be going where I think this is going.”

Avin: “So… Ianthe, you’ll need to make sure he’s not dying, Charlotte, you already know what we need you to do.”

Ianthe: “…. are you really suggesting Charlotte cutting off his hand?!”

Avin whispers to Ianthe in Celestial “it’s rude to talk about people when they can’t understand you.”

Ianthe smiles at Avin…“Sorry, a bad habit when I get annoyed.”

Charlotte: “So, shall we get a block or something?”

Ianthe: “Right. Lets get this thing over with, you absolutely crazy people.”

Ianthe readies her most powerful healing spell just in case and positions herself next to Baylen and out of the way of Charlotte’s axe swinging.

Avin uses prestidigitation to clean what’s left of baylen’s hand/wrist and the chopping block.

Charlotte tries three times to cut the hand off but misses twice. Third time’s a charm, as they say.

Avin kneels down and presses the wrist of the metal hand against baylen’s stump and starts to say a few magic words. It writhes and becomes his hand, completely controlled him by cold to the touch.

The keep has been ravaged by the siege. We are invited to rest in her personal quarters. We all sit around his study high up in one of the towers. We relax for the first time in hours.

Avin asks about the wall. “Is it a literal wall?”

He explains that it is indeed a literal wall a hundred feet high. It seperates the entire peninsula. Other wildlings can’t get past it. It has fallen into a bit of disrepair.

Avin: “Have the orcs made attack attempts before?”

No, they have not apparently. They make small unorganised attacks, but nothing of this magnitude. Nothing so organised.

“Does the wall have any safe areas?”

He thinks for a moment as he takes a bite from his mutton. “You know, there are some magical defenses but that was mostly the scribes’ job. He looked into it but it was a last resort defense mechanism.” He tries to remember. “There was this magical aura that would be fuelled on crystal containers. Oh and the key.” He gets up from the table as shower devours her fifth leg of mutton and downs a tankard from her second keg. The paladin pushes past and grabs a box. He brings it to Avin. "This was very important to everyone stationed at the wall.

Avin opens the box and finds a necklace with a strange crystal on it. It’s blueish and transparent. It does not seem familiar. Avin detects that it has magical capabilities but it has been drained. Avin tells us about it.

The paladin remembers it was called something to do with “Breath.” Everyone needed to keep the breath. If you were found without that amulet, you’d be disciplined.

He asks why we are going to the wall.

We mention there were issues in Iskillien. He recognises the name. Baylen tells him about the treacherous court mage.

Are we on a mission from the King?

Ianthe nods.

The paladin says, “That explains a lot. What is your plan?”

Baylen and Avin send a message back to the King with magic: “King Iskillien. Orcs to the north. Dornari in civil war, king dead. Army tied up. We need reinforcements, as many as possible. Thanks much.”

We sit and wait for a response.

Baylen recieves a response: “Understood. Me and the Queen of Solvana are sailing north right now. We know of the death of the king Will stabilize situation and bring-”

We either head to the wall where there are orcs or head to the city where there is a war. If we end the war, we can get reinforcements from the city to take to the wall.

Ianthe and Baylen vote for the city first.

Avin sends a message to Ursula: “On mission, please check phoenix and company property. How are things in the city? Reply in 25 words or less
Will talk properly when back.”

Avin gets a response “Hello can you hear me? Okay I will check on it but it seems Baylen’s officer has things well in hand. Will check for you.”

Charlotte shows wisdom for the first time. “I agree that going to the city is the best course of action. We don’t want to be caught in the middle of two armies.”

A strange flying thing appears!

As we study it, the paladin says he remembers that this was the emergency system used to travel between the fort and the wall. He’s never seen it used (successfully).

Avin wants to go to the wall with Charlotte. Baylen wants to go to the city. Baylen decides Ianthe should come to the wall too. She reluctantly agrees.

Baylen: “Charlotte and Avin, at least, should go to the wall. Charlotte to kill orcs and keep them from killing Avin, and Avin can fix it. Ianthe, they might need you. I’ll take everyone else – and the cart, and head to the city, and get reinforcements for the keep. And the wall itself.”

The army guys don’t know where the orcs came from. They’re still a bit confuzzled. Only some people escaped, led to safety by the guard captain. There are still survivors in the keep.

As we are being debriefed, we see that the castle has taken quite a pounding.

Baylen: “Sudden charge from nowhere… Cannons… These orcs are too well organized.”

Horlamin says something about the bravery of the leutenant.

Baylen studies the defenses and notices that it’s a bit rundown. The leutenant insists that they hadn’t expected any attack.

One of the soldiers runs up to the leutenant and explains that he finds no trace of the guard captain and suggests that they might have made it to the crypt. Maybe orcs followed? He would appreciate it if we went and checked it out.

Ianthe: “Hmmm… I think we might find more information on the situation there anyways.”

Charlotte: “Let’s go kill motherfuckers.”

Baylen: “Let’s do this.”

Ianthe sighs and rubs her shoulders tiredly, and grabs her staff tighter, ready to go.

AND SO THEYWENT…

We see a lot of footprints outside: many orcs and many men. Into the crypts we descend.

Avin gives money to Polinus and loudly thanks him for helping. Ianthe heals Horlamin a little.

There is a humming of energy, clanging of weapons, grunting of orcs and the dripping of water.

The captain of the guard asks where the army was in a terrible Scottish accent.

Baylen: “Well, ‘Left’, sure. They went to a better place.”

Horlamin: “The orcs have been dealt with and their army scattered. WE ARETHEARMY!”

Ianthe lifts her eyebrow at the whole “to a better place” statement but doesn’t say anything.

Horlamin: “See that large woman over there? She’s quite strong. It took eight orcs to even wake her up.”

Ianthe: “Don’t even ask how….” She mutters silently in Celestial.

Horlamin: “Then she smashed them all over the head.”

He knew about the defenses from a previous thing so that’s where they came from. He thinks the crypts are dangeous. It doesn’t feel pure anymore. He asks us to be ready just in case something happens when he drops the shield.

As the shield fades, there is an ominous rumble. The paladin looks suddenly very old and weary. We notice that there is a pile of villager corpses in a corner, while the survivors huddle in the middle.

We all wonder for a moment who could be pulling the orcs’ strings. Horlamin explains that we are heading towards the wall to fight against the orc invasion and to find out who is behind it. The captain of the guard agrees that this is a good idea because orcs suck.

Avin had some information that he had researched before they left. He found an old agreement between the first king of Iskilien and the other rulers where it references the wall. It said that Dornari would stand for the manning of the wall, Iskilien would be responsible for the magic-, the rest of the document is unreadable through dampness and age. But luckily thanks to cross-referencing and badgering old librarians and court nobles, Avin found more books referencing the wall. Unfortunately it was all just wankery about how brilliant it was, no real details other than saying how the defences were impenetrable forever and a quote “As long as men draw breath on the wall, its defences will hold”. Oh, and its green.
Another book claimed it was purple in the sunset, but it also claimed it could fly so Avin wasnt too sure about that. Avin found references to “Energy containers of glass” that supposedly were important for the wall.
No mention of what they were or what they were for though.

The fountain turns into a nasty clockwork thing. “Orcs detected.”

NEXTTIME ON PATHFINDER…

Will our spunky heroes survive the battle against the clockwork golem monster thing?

The scene opens on Morcastle and the Phoenix Risen inn and boozery, present day. The door opens and in strides Karin Brown. She looks around the common room and gets a nod from the barkeep as she meets his gaze. She sits down at the bar and puts her masterwork broadsword down next to her.

“Overbearing, as usual.” Finch mutters as he goes about pouring her drink. “Water still?” She nods “You are quite boring.”

“Yes well.” She drinks it down in one. “Things have quietened down since the gang left. Theres nothing to do here.”

Finch nods “Just how I like it. Altough business has taken a dive since charlotte left.”

“I dont think she even paid for any of her drinks.” Finch suddenly realizes “Oh well. Boss’s booze.”

They sit there in silence for a moment before Karin announces, “I have my duties here, I know, but I do wish I could go with them. Instead of playing guard here… Who would even try to hurt this business? Those people are heroes in this kingdom.”

Finch merely shrugs “Jovask is still out there you know.” He spits into a cup and polishes it. “Last I heard, Sarah disappeared. She was the trump card to that whole situation.”

“Heard?” Karin smirks “You hear more than most. Do you know where she went?”

Finch shrugs “She was gone by the time they left the city. Boss didn’t mention her. Mr Cartwright might have plans for that. He always seems to do.”

Karin nods slowly. “That man is destined for greatness. I can feel it.”

Karin sits in silence for a moment, staring at Finchs information gathering in action. His informants showing up for drinks, slipping notes under their mugs as Finch cleans up. Seems he has this spy network all sorted out.

Finch finally speaks up. “I know Ianthe is missed atleast. We even have those pilgrims stopping by here now and then, hoping to catch her.”

Karin nods. “That oracle sure has made a reputation around here.”

“I think the half-man is the least battle tested of the gang.” Finch remarks.

Karin shakes her head. “I’ve seen him in battle, its very…chaotic. He will do fine.” Finch looks confused for a moment, Karin merely mentions, “He’s fond of eagles.”

Karin stares outside, looking at the guardsmen patrolling and daydreaming of adventure. “Oh.” She remarks without enthusiasm. “Looks like its going to rain.”

MEANWHILE

On the outskirts of a Dornari village. The rain is pouring down on a gang of adventurers huddled together in some foliage.

We approached the burning village warily and, thanks to Paulinus’s advanced scouting, we managed to avoid the orc patrols on the roads. We stashed the horse and wagon close by and out of the way.

Paulinus insisted on scouting the village and seeing what was going on, and before anyone could protest, he was off. Twenty minutes later, he arrives back, sliding into the foliage and shaking the rain from his short blonde hair. “It’s bad…”

SCENESTART

Avin and Ianthe survey the fire and the extent of the damage. We cannot see much from where we are, merely the smoking of fire being put out by the rain. The damage we can see if mostly on the big keep near the village. It looks like it has been pummelled by something.

“Bad how?” Asks Avin.

“Orcs?” Asks Horlamin.

Paulinus confirms. “Lot’s.”

Charlotte suggests we leave the fire to the rain and hunt orcs instead.

“They have set up camp in the town. Burned everything…” He pants.
Paulinus grabs Charlotte to stop her from getting up “No yo-” He quickly let’s go as he realizes what he’s doing “- You can’t. There’s way too many.”

Baylen: “If we can get close enough, we should start this off by detonating their powder. A fireball would do the trick.”

Ianthe mutters quietly about crazy people and follows cautiously.

Baylen: “You say that, but you’re still travelling with us. Who’s the crazy one there?” He grins.

Ianthe laughs. “I guess you need someone to patch you up and sweet talk people!”

Avin: “And to patch up collateral damage.”

AND SO WE WENT…

When we arrive, there are a lot of orcs surrounding a cannon that looks like it has exploded. It explains the explosion we heard."

Avin casts shield on himself and Ianthe casts Bless on us. Charlotte readies her axe.

There are barrels in a nearby tent.

Baylen whispers to Avin. “Try and peg an orc with a fireball while it’s carrying to the cannon. Once you’ve done that, we charge while they’re freaking out about everything exploding.”

Combat begins and we fuck shit up. Not so much in the good way but we’re pulling it back.

We all sit down half way through and have a picnic with the orcs while we wait for next week.

Oh and this happens:

Avin flies up 15 feet further, asking Ser to perform the tactic he’d discussed with him. He casts wall of fire as Ser casts silent image. The silent image takes the effect of a MASSIVE dragon breathing fire at the wall of fire.

IT is the dusk of day five of travel as we finish dealing with the mantidrake. The few remaining bandit ambushers have long since scattered back into their dense forest. The more savage night time forest is waking up now as the cloak of darkness descends.

Ianthe informs Horlamin that he missed a great fight, but agrees that shut-eye is important. On that subject, where should we sleep tonight?

Ianthe wonders how the doll protected us from the Mantidrake, and Charlotte suggests that it may have been the repungent smell. Ianthe agrees. Horlamin decides it is druidic.

Avin is chilling in the cart with Ser, keeping an eye out for trouble, while the rest of us chat about this doll. Well. All but Charlotte, since she is avoiding the revolting thing.

Horlamin and Ianthe sets up camp. Charlotte sets up her tent and passes out pretty quickly. Growing big takes a lot out of a woman.

Avin naps for two hours so that he can help keep watch.

Horlamin: “How long until we are by the wall?”

Ianthe Eir: “I’m just hoping we get out of this forest soon. Not really thrilled about meeting another Mantidrake on our way.”

Avin crafts while Ser keeps an eye out for danger. Horlamin goes to sleep after getting water from our dispenser (Ianthe).

Ser notices a few of the nocturnal beasts come close to the camp but they stay away due to the wall, or maybe because the corpse of the mantidrake nearby. Either way the corpse receives a lot of attention throughout the night as packs of animals fight over it until its all been taken. A feast for the natives.

The rest of the night passes without incident …

Day 6! We break camp at first light of dawn (as close as we can tell from inside this forest anyways) and get back on the road. Charlotte chooses to walk alongside the cart to stretch her legs. Her axe is held ready. Ianthe apparently wants a bath. She rides in the cart and hums to herself.

Horlamin: “Alright, let’s move out. The sooner we get to the wall, the sooner we can get home.”

Another sunny day in the forest as the old road stretches and winds through the forest. Avin plays with the small bead in his hand for a few seconds before returning his gaze to the surroundings. After an hour or so of travel Ser and Avin see something ahead. There are bodies lying in the road.

Ser communicates this via telepathy and then turns invisible and flies up and ahead to try to check for attackers nearby. Charlotte holds her axe tightly as she approaches, preparing for an ambush. Ianthe squeezes her staff and climbs down from the cart, reading herself for a fight just in case. Karl peers into the woods. He sees nothing nearby. Ser can’t see anything either. They both report this back to their masters.

Charlotte sees that the Orc bodies have been pierced by arrows and looted. She informs the party and then kneels by one to inspect it. By the smell, they have been dead for at least a day. She notices something stuck under the orc, and carefully inspects it. She uses her axe to move the corpse. The body flips over and reveals a torn piece of parchment, which she picks up and unfolds, shouting back to the party that she found something.

Charlotte sees what appears to be half of some kiind of map. Something is written on it too, but its in orcish.

Charlotte: “Can anyone read Orcish?”

Avin raises his hand absent mindedly.

Charlotte takes it back to the cart and hands it to Avin. “Some kind of map?”

Avin looks it over. Avin sees that it is indeed a map of some kind, leading to what is described to be “Strategic resources”. It doesnt say where it is, but it does say that “Ur-Ok” has the other half.

Avin relays this information back to the group while Charlotte goes to look at the corpses again. The first one doesnt have anything seemingly around it, however the third has something clenched in its hand, something out of parchment. Charlotte eases it from his hand. As Charlotte wrenches the thing from the orcs hand, a slight sizzling noise is heard before a moment later the area is bathed in an explosion. She is fine.

As this happens Horlamin studies the map and realises that splitting it in two is a clever ploy to protect valuable information from falling into the wrong hands. Ianthe rushes to check on Charlotte, scolding her for being careless. Charlotte shrugs.

As soon as the explosion clears we hear a booming sound coming through the forest: “You didnt think you could leave my forest before seeing my hospitality did you?” Charlotte readies her axe. “You have my thanks for dealing with that beast, however.” The voice booms from another direction. “It has been a pain in our sides for quite some time. So as a token of my gratitude I will allow you to leave this forest unharmed, as long as you leave your wagon and horses.”

Charlotte likes having something to chill on so is defiant. “Scared you’ll lose if you fight us?”

“Yes. Very much so. I am no match for the likes of you, however I will win if it comes to that.”

Ianthe Eir: “Ah, so your… manticore wasn’t that hospitality?”

Horlamin: “To who are we speaking?”

Charlotte: “Bring it on, bitch.”

Avin sighs and casts mage armour on himself.

The voice booms from another direciton. “You have the honor of being in the court of King Palinus the Green. I have no interest in wasting more resources or manpower on this conflict, so I urge you to take me up on my offer. It is not unreasonable.”

Charlotte: “Fight me like a man. I’l fuck you up mate.” Charlotte continues to provoke the voice while everyone else is assessing the situation.

Horlamin: “Be that as it may, we will not simply leave our cart and horses to a voice from the woods.”

Ianthe remembers Palinus the green was a historical figure known for his robin-hood like qualities. He took from everyone and, the legends say, he gave to the poor. It’s disputed if this was fact or merely romanticised, however it was a popular tale back in the day.

Avin assertains that the voices are being reflected off of a series of tubes. Wooden from the sounds of it. Ser tells everyone.

Horlamin: “I think you are just trying to scare us away for some easy loot, and using a historical name to make it sound plausible.” Horlamin tells the voice that we will not leave our things behind and will fight if provoked. Charlotte mumbles something about wanting to fight anyway.

Ianthe tries diplomacy and offers to take the man to the next village.

“You…” The speech falters for a moment. “You speak with such kindness. Why? I am trying to rob you of your posessions.”

Ianthe: “Ah, well. I can see you have at least done some help to our cause…” She waves her hand towards the dead orcs. “We’re on our way to the Wall.”

“You are heading to the wall? So…you seek to stop this orc menace?”

Ianthe Eir: “Indeed we do. Ah… if you don’t mind… would you happen to have any recent info about what’s been going on? We’ve been travelling for the past 6 days.”

“Hmm… Well in that case…” The voice seems to consider our offer.

A moment later, a man jumps down from a nearby tree, covered in leaves and branches. He lands with a flourish “I, shall join you!” He bows to Ianthe.

Ianthe bows to the man "Pleasure to make acquaintance . " She looks at the other group members, silently asking their opinion about this new addition. Charlotte sighs loudly, glaring at the man and putting her axe away grudgingly.

“You may call me Paulinis, its a silly name but im sticking with it.” He grins.

Ianthe and Ser introduce themselves.

Charlotte gets up in the guys face and says, “I kill for fun. Bear that in mind.” Then she storms over to the cart and settles in the back, her eyes fixed on the weirdo.

The man stares at Charlotte and at Ianthe. “Not one for forgivness is she?”

Ianthe Eir: “I think that means approval from our axe lady too. Shall we get a move on? You definitely do not want to piss her off. Or touch her alcohol.”

Charlotte coincidentally has a tankard in hand and is drinking from it.

“Noted” He throws off his disguise. “Well, you have my bow and my…tricks. For good or bad, I will follow you.”

Horlamin makes a joke about his age.

The man smiles wide at the short gnome “Surely you know I am not him, you cannot be that da-” He laughs. “Oh very clever. You almost got me. You. I like you.”

Horlamin booms out in laughter so deep it’s hard to imagine it coming from a gnome.

We get back on the road, with Paulinus the Trickster as our new companion. Avin is still keeping an eye on things.

Avin sees nothing out of the ordinary. Paulinus also is a big help in finding dangers in the road and a few short-cuts to get out of the forest quicker. He also regales us of how he and his gang of bandits have been taking out many orcs that have been passing through. However after the last attack on us, the bandits all lost their nerve and some went off on their own and the others just left for home. Paulinus also brags about his own genius and skill with the bow. But his main point of pride is his mechanical and alchemical skills.

Ianthe: “Have you ever seen an old lady around here in the woods?” She describes the lady they met outside the forest. Paulinus can’t remember seeing anyone by that description.

Horlamin asks him about the doll.

Paulinus picks it up and sniffs, pokes and licks it before handing it back. “Smells, and tastes, foul. Looks like some druid stuff.”

Horlamin: “That’s what I said. Safe to keep or throw it away?” Paulinus shrugs.

We set up camp for the night.

Horlamin is getting quite used to setting up camp by now and is done after a few minutes. Avin sleeps for two hours whilst everyone else is getting stuff ready, telling them not to worry about the fire.

Paulinus explains that we are now out of the immediate DANGERZONE and that Dornari has always had a good control on their lands. Better the closer we get.

After the snooze Avin wakes up and plops the bead down in the centre of the campsite, saying a few words as it springs to life as a log fire. Avin explains to paulinus that he’ll be awake all night after two hours and also about the campfire wall spell.

The night passes by without incident as Paulinus keeps a watchful eye until AVin gets up and then he too gets some sleep. He admires Avin’s resourcefulness and quips that it would be a shame to injure such a fellow scholar of the arts, before he saunters off to sleep in a place where he can defend Ianthe if needed.

Day 7 breaks brighter than the last few days, as we are now leaving the dense forest for the open plains of Dornari. We make good time now out in the open and the winds coming in from the sea have resumed. The smell of salty sea opens our nasal passages. We travel uneventfully for a day. Paulinus notes that it’s weird not having run into patrols yet.

We set up camp in record time in the flat, open terrains.

Charlotte and Avin hear some hushed words being exchanged on the perimeter of the camp, between Paulinus and some unknown men. “No, these people are my companions now. They are under my protection.” – The other men object until Paulinus pulls out something from his cloak, you can’t hear what, but the men mumble harshly before seemingly scampering off. “And dont come back.” Paulinus mutters as he gets back on watch, checking over his shoulder to see if someone heard him.

Charlotte eyes him suspiciously. Paulinus meets Charlottes eyes and stares back seriously before climbing back up the tree, wordlessly.

Day 8 breaks. The morning is bleak and dreary as the storms roll in.

Ianthe Eir mutters rude words about the rain in celestial and goes to hide in the cart. We break camp in the pouring rain and get on the muddy road.
Charlotte pulls a hood over her head and walks alongside the cart. Paulinus makes a quip about how rain washes away sins, so somebody here must have sinned a whole lot. Charlotte mumbles something that includes the words “shut” “up” “or” “else”.

Ianthe Eir: “Well, I just now want to get to the damn inn and in a hot bath!” She sneezes.

“Do not worry, Ianthe. Crossroads Keep has a tavern with baths and the greatest mead this side of Haven. I can taste it now.” Paulinus reasures her. He makes a point to not agitate the dour Charlotte by instead referencing things she might enjoy, like mead. Charlotte seems to walk with a little more purpose.

The day’s travel passes without incident and we make camp just half a day away from the crossroads. The rain doesn’t seem to be letting up. Our watch rotations work out and we rest a night in peace and wetness.

Day 9

The rain has let off and has given way to an overcast day. As we break camp Paulinus leaps down from his tree and rushes over to Ianthe. “Ianthe! It’s bad.”

We break camp early in the morning and load up the wagon for further travel. Day two of our journey has started. Baylen packs up his stuff, and then hops up onto the cart. Avin sits on the cart and has Ser keep an eye out for bads and stuff that is not goods. Charlotte is already lounging on the cart, ale in hand. Ianthe climbs on the back of the cart, setting down to relax and keep an on the back of the road just in case. Charlotte at one point notices a wolfpack on a ridge to the east watching us, but they dart off after a few miles. Clearly looking for easier prey. Ser and Avin notices the wolf too, but they also see a curious shifting of wind on the tree tops to the north and east, far in the distance. Thanks to the flat lands there is no danger of anything sneaking up on us. All is good. Charlotte guards the camp all night and the only thing that happens is a weird gust of wind blowing over the nearby tree tops.

The next morning, we set off again. Charlotte tries to sleep but doesn’t manage. Baylen notices ships on the horizon to the west. They seem to be going south from the north. Baylen thinks they may be coming from Dornari. Avin and Ser also see those ships. However Baylen sees that the flags are indeed flying the Dornari flags, but also one of independent mercenary companies. We cross the large bridge over a steep river, almost like a fjord. The bridge seems ancient and is in a bad way. It’s in no danger of falling just yet, but it’s doing its best to. Several hundred feet down, the roaring fjord sweeps out towards the sea. The sides are rough and steep. Looking to the east and west it seems like the land split apart hundreds of years ago. We travel until dusk takes us. We make camp. The forest lands is starting. The density of the shrubbery and trees are increasing by every mile.

First part of the night goes smoothly. Baylen does not notice anything out of the ordinary. Avin notices an increase in fauna noise and activity, but nothing threatening to our camp. The night passes without incident. On the following morning, Charlotte keeps her eye on the wilderness pretty well, seeing a few animals scatter well before the cart reaches them ahead. Avin however sees a person approach on the road well before Charlotte does. Avin sees that its an old lady with a big backpack and a walking stick. The last passerby we saw was before the bridge. Ianthe suggests asking her about stuff, while Baylen thinks Avin should use his voodoo hoodoo on her.

As she approaches, Avin does a thing where he detects magic with boop lvl 3 and he detects that it’s entirely natural. No artificial preservatives in this old lady As the lady approaches she smiles and states, “My..what a lovely song, young lady. That warms my wrinkled old heart.” As she looks up at the cart towards Ianthe, she smiles sweetly but weary.

Baylen has his tricorn hat pulled down over his eyes enough to shade them, but not enough to block his sight of most of the elderly lady. Baylen does not trust, it seems. The lady looks you all over carefully, like she is enjoying our company.

“Thank you, grandmother.” Ianthe smiles at the lady. “Could you tell us any news about what’s going on over there? We need to travel a long way and it would be nice to be prepared” Says Ianthe.
Ser Rainbowdance Bubblegum Princess continues to keep an eye out for things and stuff. Avin does so too, but has ser fly up to get a faerie-dragon-eye-view. The faery eye dragon view reveals a startling sight: A forest to the north as far as the eye can see, going intoi hilly terrain.

“Oh yes, I have seen much my child. As for news, I am afraid i am quite out of touch with the world. That’s why I’m travelling.” She smiles “While im still young.” She laughs gently.

Avin continues looking around whilst addressing the woman. “This forest, how is travelling through it?”

She turns to Avin with a smile “It has seen better days, like most things. But I am sure you can handle it. You look very strong.” She looks Avin up and down. “And you look like you have a great head on you.”

Avin has a telepathic argument with Ser.

“Its important to never stop learning. Never stop seeing the full picture. Got that, young man?” She tries to be stern but a slight smile creeps onto her face and she laughs softly at Avin’s reaction. “I do not want to keep you youngsters. You still have a long journey ahead of you I think.” She adjusts her backpack. “However..” She looks up at Ianthe. “Could you perhaps spare some food for an old, weary lady? I seem to have miscalculated for my trip, and these old legs are not very good for hunting game.” She laughs softly.

Ianthe hands her two days worth of rations and Avin uses magic to lighten her load.

She grabs them and thanks Ianthe profusely. “Bless you, bless you both. Please, let me give you something in return for your kindness.” She puts down her backpack and starts going through it. She removes several odd items while mumbling to herself. A broken mirror, a shoe, a length of string, five identical boxes of something rattling before finally pulling out a smelly doll wrapped entirely out of some kind of weed, and doused in some kind of liquid. The smell is strong. She presents it to Ianthe “Here. This will protect you on your journeys.” She quickly packs up her stuff and moves on with a slight wave. “I wish you best of luck, youngsters. And do not give up hope.” She marches down the road somewhat faster now, due to the easier load.

Avin and Ianthe examine the doll. It is old and smelly. Also creepy and doesn’t seem to have any magic on it. Ianthe decides to keep it. Dusk arrives and we make camp. Baylen scavenges some berries and we all eat really well. During the night, the watch goes by smoothly despite annoying pixie dragons. Some small animals skirt the camp but do not dare to approach. Ianthe doesn’t recognise the specific meaning of the doll but she does remember seeing and reading about local superstitious beliefs that such dolls were divine in nature and could protect against evil. Popular with peasants and the rural folk. Off in the distance, Avin hears a sudden gust of wind and a flock of birds taking flight. Miles and miles away. The dead quiet of the night making it possible to hear this.

And off we pop into the forest of death. This couldn’t possibly go wrong.

The morning breaks and with it we now see the forest ahead of us. It is dense and very big and scary. We make it into the forest without incident and Baylen stays awake because he don’t wanna miss a thing, And he doesn’t.

Avin looks around and sees that these trees seem different than the other trees in this region. This forest doesn’t seem like it’s been introduced here naturally. Someone might have spurred the growth of this forest on hundreds of years ago. Avin remembers that the history of this continent isn’t very well documented but he does remember mention of ancient ruins being discovered here in these kingdoms. Signs of an older civilization that had fallen long before people returned to this continent. Maybe the old civilization caused this forest to grow?
But why?
And how?

The road is now little more than a dirt trail. Our wagon makes its way slowly through the forest as it gets darker and gloomier. No amount of john woo will save us. Charlotte sees something twitch in the bushes. The forest seems quite again. She draws her axe. No one else sees anything. Avin takes another look. The bush twitches again. Charlotte goes to poke it with her axe and a small beast leaps out onto the road. It takes one look at Charlotte and then runs away. The forest is quiet again as the sound of the deer dashing away diminishes. As they move onwards through the forest of certain death, Charlotte sees another bush twitch. She complains loudly about it. Ser turns invisible and goes to investigate. Ser stealths close to the bush and sees only a bush. However, there seems to be a few armed men standing nearby with weapons ready. At least the bush is clear. They look like scallywagging ruffians that are up to no good. They are eyeing our cart with hungry eyes
And a moment later, they strike. Baylen pulls out his rooty tooty point and shooty and the warcries of one of the ambushers is silenced as his body is riddled with bullets and goes down. The leader steps out and orders the attack ahead. He sets his sight on Baylen and aims his bow. Action scene go!

Charlotte fucks the leader up and the mass of tentacles fuck up some other guys. So basically, we are winning the shit out of this fight because we are awesome.

But then we hear a loud roar. A large creature swoops over the battlefield. Avin identifies the creature from a distance as a manticore, however…it’s curious…it has a dragon’s head instead of a lion’s. It breathes fire on us. Everyone who matters is okay. Baylen is burny.

Charlotte goes big and tries to hit it but it’s too high up. We think that the weird doll affects it somehow. It makes us all a bit burny, especially Charlotte, but she don’t give a fuck. Avin makes Charlotte fly and she fucks that motherfucker up. When she is done with it, it is lying in a pool of its own blood, dead.

Avin sees now that it’s not a manticore but a mantidragon. A result of magical experiments. It’s fiercely territorial and the likely explanation is that it was simply defending or hunting in what it considered ITS territory. Sounds of battle attracting it. Baylen’s guns likely attracted it from far away.

The journey to the wall begins

Our heroes prepare for the journey by buying all they need of food and supplies. They also prepare their horse and cart for the occasion and soon they are off.

After a days uneventful travel they make camp by the side of the swamp. The nice cool breeze coming in from the vast stretching coast to the west makes all their troubles seem so far away.

Suddenly they hear a shriek. Ser Princess Bubblegum(Avins new familiar) scouts that a man and a woman are being accosted by orcs! The heroes leap into action!

Shortly after dispatching the foul cretins with deft tactics and cunning magics and saving the family, they interrogate the captured orc. Using very scary tactics™ Baylen Cartwright and Avin Catson manage to learn that the leader of the orcs is called “Urg’Nok” and is closer to the wall area. They let him go. This will not backfire at all.

The saved couple, Lenia and Ottar, bury their dog who died valiantly defending them. They join our heroes around their campfire for the night before heading off towards Morcastle in the morning. Baylen Cartwright tells the party what the orc said – That he mentioned The Wall, that his boss is located in Urg’Nok, and that this was only the forward party. Then he tells the two travellers to inform his Majesty the King of this once they reach Morcastle.

The party rests up for the night and prepare to continue their journey in the morning. They steel themselves for a no doubt rough journey closer to the orc menace.